"Sushi! Cheap, good sushi!"

Not many people today wanted sushi. This made Simon's job difficult.

"Kadota-san, come and have some sushi," he offered with his usual smile and compulsory flier.

"No thanks, I'm looking for Erika and Walker, have you seen them?

"No I have not, but I have seen good sushi! It is at Russia Sushi!"

Kadota sighed, taking a pamphlet. "Okay Simon, I will check it out later when I find Walker and Erika.

That was too bad. It was Cheesecake Sushi special night. "Come to Russia Sushi!"

--
"Good morning sunshine~"

He groaned, trying to reorient himself. There was an alley, there was Shizuo, there was the motorcycle, and now he was lying on Shinra's coffee table, currently being prepped to have a bullet slug extracted from his side. Shinra was sitting beside him, half his face covered by a surgical mask and currently pulling on a pair of latex gloves.
"What time is it?" he muttered, his throat dry and his voice hoarse.

"Time for you to explain some things. Like why Celty brought you back with a bullet would and not a whole lot of answers."

The doctor was lining up an array of spotless surgical instruments. Izaya noticed Shinra hadn't given him any anasthetic yet.

"What has she told you so far?"

"Nothing much, except for the fact you said you had information about the location of her head which was the only reason why you made it here alive."

"Ah." That explained Shinra's rather dangerous expression. "That was a very good bluff I made out of self preservation.

Bullshit, Shinra thought. Izaya rarely even needed to bluff because he always had something up his sleeve.

"She's not going to be happy to know you lied."

"Well, it wasn't entirely a lie... Say, if I knew someone who knew exactly where it was... That's information enough, isn't it? The identity of that person?"

"And who might that person be?" Shinra said mildly, carefully using forceps to feel for the slug still left in Izaya's side.

"You, of course-" Izaya was cut off by the intense pain of having a pair of forceps dug into an open wound. White knuckled hands clenching the edge of the coffee table, he realized he might have gone a little too far. "N-not that I'd say anything..." It felt like Shinra was twisting it now and the pain was blinding.

"Not that you will ever say anything about that," Shinra said, maintaining his casual tone.

"R-right," he gasped, his cocky smile faltering for a moment. Certain topics made Shinra a very scary person. But, at the very least he got the confirmation he wanted. "You sure you know what you are doing?"

"I know how to treat a bullet wound."

"I mean with Celty-Ah, ah, I'll drop the subject," he conceded, after seeing Shinra's grip tighten again. Several agonizing unanesthetized minutes later, he was being sewn up and herded out the door with Shinra telling him it was better he leave before Celty returned and that he'll say his lead was a dead end.

"What are friends for," he mused, standing outside the apartment complex with an aching side. At least he got some party favors from the underground doctor.

--

"Oriha~ra-san, Cheap sushi, Just For You!"

He caught the information seller taking some very hesitant steps down the street.

"Would you like to come try? Special discount!" he offered cheerfully. To his pleasant surprise, he actually took him up on that offer. Good, because today was cheesecake sushi special.

--

"Mikado!"

Kida burst into his apartment, winded from having run the entire way from the station. "You are alive!" he shouted with relief.

"Uh... Why wouldn't I be," he replied a little sheepishly.

"I thought you were a goner!" Kida said, dramatically clutching Mikado to his chest. He forgot to use his indoor voice again. "Seriously! Who knows what I would have done if you were gone?"

"Ehhh, Kida, I can't breathe," Mikado complained, squirming. Kida had a flair for dramatics, but he could tell at his core he really was worried. "I'm fine, I'm perfectly fine as you can see..."

"Then what did you need those for?" Kida pointed to the pair of handcuffs abandoned carelessly on the floor.

Damnit.